I have a Panasonic Lumix DMC-ZS6. Should I stay with an original manufacture battery, or are some of the generics ok? I found a web site that has a battery that will work for my camera, but some of the specs are different. Mine has 3.6v 895mAh 3.3Wh li-ion, the other battery has 3.6-3.7v 1200mAh. My question is, what's the difference between the 895mAh and the 1200mAh? Will it be ok to use this after market battery in my camera, and will it last as long as the original?

In theory the 1200mAh battery will give you about 30% extra shots , in practice it maybe similar to or even deliver less power than the original Pana, particularly after a few charges.The reason is very simple, just because it is stamped "1200" mAh it does not mean that it is...The general rule is : the cheaper the price the higher the claim.To know the answer you need to find review on that exact battery .Generally they are safe to use but results can vary a lot between battery and battery , even from the same brand/supplier because usually the cheaper the item the less quality control is applied.

There's a broad spectrum of aftermarket batteries, some perfectly fine and others, not so fine. I stick with 3rd party batteries sold by major retailers who have tried them out, themselves (e.g., B&H, Adorama, etc.). It's worth the hunt, as still seem to run as low as a quarter the OEM price and work fine.

Cheers,

Rick

p.s. The newest "chipped" batteries are tougher to clone, but it can be done. Just got two batteries and a charger for my E-M5 for half the price of the still unavailable OEM cell. The battery meter works, so somebody reverse-engineered the thing.

I've used two strategies over the last 10 years. Back when I was buying genuine Nikon batteries for an Coolpix 880. All of the alternative aftermarket batteries were junk, so I used Ebay to get used versions of the real thing. Fast Forward to now and Canon S90 and S95's at Amazon. The aftermarket batteries are 1/4 the price of new ones and last long enough, recharge, etc to make $10 a buy option. But beware shifting sands of sellers etc. So far it has not led to me buying OEM despite the fact that we are running 3 of these cameras at once. How goes it? Missing your posts, man?